Fishing ban in Bay: 4,14,784 families to get 40 kg rice monthly

UNB News

Publish Date - May 22, 2019, 07:44 PM

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Dhaka, May 22 (UNB) – The government will provide 40 kilograms of rice monthly to each of 4,14,784 fishermen’s families in 42 upazilas of 12 coastal districts during a 65-day ban (from May 20 to July 23) on fishing in the Bay of Bengal.

State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Md Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru announced this at a press conference at the secretariat on Wednesday.

The rice will be provided to the fishermen before the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr under VGF programme as they have no alternative source of income, Khasru said.

“In the fiscal 2017-18, the country became self-reliant in fish production by producing a total of 42.77 lakh metric tonnes of fish. Among those, 6.56 metric tonnes of fish came from sea which is 15.33 percent of total fish production of the country”, he added.

Earlier on May 20, the government imposed a 65-day ban on fishing in the Bay of Bengal, aiming to boost commercial fishing in the country.

The government since 2015 has imposed a periodic ban on fishing in the seas for creating a safe environment for aquatic or semi-aquatic mammals in Bangladesh's exclusive economic zone in the Bay of Bengal and for ensuring safe and sustainable accumulation of fish reserves.